Written in December 2016, here are 8 things we see happening in the advertising / media / marketing world in 2017.

1. 8 Things We See Happening in 2017

2. #1- VIDEO BY THE DIGITAL MAFIA
The tech firms gave the creative agencies a very generous head start in the race to create video content. But the smart,
fast and funded digital agencies are now in the game without fear or concern for industry turf wars. Video is the bomb
and these new agencies intend to drop it. No longer waiting for creative agencies to make the content and then lay false
claim to how it is controlled, the new players are going to start making their own high-tech goodies on a major scale. And
clients are going to be impressed, especially because this play goes way beyond “social viral videos.” The digital mafia
have the means, the data, and the vision. Traditional agencies: you’ve been warned.
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3. #2- CLIENTS TIRE OF THE AOL MODEL
I can only imagine being a VP-Marketing or Brand Manager let alone a CMO. Besides all the usual workload, fantastically
awful bits of news got dropped on my lap in 2016: 1) the ANA Rebate Study shares to all that agencies are skimming like
John Doe in Roadhouse; 2) the Department of Justice is chasing agencies for rigging the game; and 3) the New York Times
proves that some portion of my digital budget is going to Russian bots. And, yet, my AOR’s are telling me they are here for
me. Smart marketers claim “a good solution can come from anywhere.” Their actions in 2017 will explore that notion
more and more as AOR’s are less and less seen as the solution source by their clients.
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4. #3- IF YOU AIN’T GOOGLE OR FACEBOOK …
… you ain’t shit. The numbers for these monsters are staggering. Market share, revenue, growth … dominance. They are
rendering web sites who don’t rely on their ad services useless in terms of media spending. More than that, they are
making every publisher into a wannabe Buzzfeed and PopSugar. We tried to actually look at CNN.com and Yahoo during
the election. Holy shit. The entire sites are filled with clickbait, gimmicks, and junk. They make the National Enquirer look
quaint and modest. In an attempt to grab any traffic (and therefore advertisers), web sites are hacking off limbs to
prevent the Google/Facebook virus from spreading. Stop it, already, your ass is a zombie in 2017.
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5. #4- PROJECTION MAPPING V2
You know the effects from Dr. Strange and Inception where buildings and plains of reality fold? Well, now imagine those
same films being shown on the side of an actual building using cutting edge projections. Projection mapping exists yet has
only slowly grown in the US (much bigger in Europe) but marketers could thrust it forward by showing cooler content in
and on unique locations that capture the imagination. Art and commerce mix here very well if the creative is made with
the dynamics in mind. There are no major players in projection mapping content in the US that marketers can name. That
is going to change very soon.
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6. #5- 360 VIDEO CRASH
The days of consumers (and marketers) confusing 360 video with Virtual Reality are finished soon. Yes, 360 videos can be
fun. Old people get blown away by it. But I predict true VR will force 360 videos to come crashing back down to earth as
consumers embrace the difference, driven by gamers and the Oculus scene. And when the creative community becomes
truly immersed in developing virtual reality video content and any random Joe can hook it up to view it in 5 seconds,
killer VR will render 360 videos as a 2016 asterisk.
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7. #6- SPORTS CONTINUE TO DOMINATE
We cannot predict big time sports to fall on its face soon. That is bound to happen in about a decade but not in 2017.
Somehow, fans, cities, governments, corporations and the media continue to pump sports machines with billions of
dollars that show no signs of let-up. Ownership groups like NCAA, NFL, MLB, etc. are masters of control and expansion.
Desperate media outlets will pay anything for rights, guaranteeing sports also are in the news 24/7. Fans will keep
dropping insane cash as their local and national governments support the teams and leagues with financial and legal
support. Companies love the “safe” spend for checking boxes and placing ads. All this means that despite the press
doom-and-gloom attention on decreasing ratings and safety concerns, sports rule this country a little more next year.
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8. #7- RADIO EDGES CLOSER TO DEATH
OK, not a very bold prediction but so hard to not throw a pile of dirt on this corpse. Does anyone actually listen to the
radio anymore? Like, the radio radio? And does anything meaningful come through the speakers anyway? The world has
sped up and left radio rotting in the ground. Old school suckers change the dial to avoid the insane levels or ads and
promos, and anyone born after 1980 only uses Pandora and Spotify. Millions also just listen to music on YouTube, which
is weird but true. We’d like to meet the media supervisor who authorizes a radio ad buy. This person would have to be
like the character Peter from Office Space. Because it’d be cool to talk to someone knowing they either don’t care about
anything or actually want to get fired.
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9. #8- EXPERIENTIAL THRIVES THANX TO LITTLE GUYS
For an industry around for 25 years it somehow maintains a low profile among the advertising/marketing trade press.
And, yet, every damn marketer is chugging the experiential Kool-Aid hard. It’s not just the Red Bulls, Nikes and Mt Dews
who believe, it’s every conventional marketer who finally has learned consumers want experiences, not ads. Industry and
cultural events like Comic Con, SXSW, and CES are, in essence, experiential meet-ups. Big “Promo Shops” don’t drive the
space, cutting edge players like MKG do. Great ideas and genuine customer enthusiasm are tough to fake. Clients are
flocking to smaller players who ooze authenticity and shun drama.
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10. PATRICK WEST
patrick@themachinenyc.com
646.380.9467 or 914.216.8948
“BeTheMachineNYC” social handles